38 pages • 1 hour read
N. T. WrightSimply Christian: Why Christianity Makes Sense
Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 2006A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Index of Terms
Trinity
The Trinity is the term that Christian theology uses to denote the tripersonal nature of God. Christian teaching asserts that there is only one God, but that this God exists in three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. These are not three different ways of talking about God, three different modalities of God, or three ways of God existing or appearing in the world; rather, they are three really distinct persons within the divine essence. The truth of the Trinity is not something that could be reasoned to, but rather is necessarily revealed to humanity. Christian teaching asserts that the existence of God is something that can be known by reason alone, but that it is only Jesus Christ who reveals the Trinitarian nature of God by giving humanity knowledge of the Father and the Holy Spirit.
Incarnation
The Incarnation is the term that denotes Christian teaching concerning the second person of the Trinity, the Word, coming to earth in human form. The term literally means “enfleshment,” which aptly describes the event in which the Son of God comes to earth in the person of Jesus Christ. The teaching on the Incarnation is one of the most essential truths of the Christian faith because it is the means by which the human race is redeemed from sin and elevated to the life of grace and communion with the Trinity.
Israel
Israel, in the context of this book, denotes the ancient community of Israel that came out of Egypt in the Exodus, settled in the land of Canaan as the chosen people of YHWH, and composed the books known today as the Old Testament and the Hebrew scriptures. Israel consisted of 12 interrelated tribes that were eventually ruled over by Saul, David, Solomon, and a succession of kings after them. As narrated within the pages of the Old Testament, the kingdom of the 12 tribes of Israel eventually broke into two separate kingdoms—Israel and Judah—both of which were eventually conquered. In Christian teaching, the birth of Jesus into the people of Israel is not a historical accident, but the providential culmination of salvation history sparked by God calling Abraham to a new land and fashioning a covenant with him.
Heaven
For many Christians, heaven is the state of existence between natural human death and the resurrection life of the world to come. Christian teaching asserts that the human person is composed of body and soul, and that death occurs when the body and soul are finally separated from one another. Thus, heaven is the state where the soul resides in the presence of God while waiting for the consummation and end of the world where each person will regain their body. For Christians, then, heaven is not the end of the road, but a waystation where the souls of the righteous patiently wait for God’s providential ordering of the universe to bring all things to completion.
Covenant
A covenant is like a contract, but with different terms of exchange. In a contract, there is typically an exchange of goods and services. In a covenant, there is an exchange of persons: It is the means by which families are created through marriage or adoption. The covenants that God forms with his people, then, are the means by which he adopts humanity and makes them a part of the divine family. With each successive covenant, God invites humans into deeper and more intimate communion, until the last and final covenant Jesus Christ offers in his own body and blood, making humans co-heirs of the divine promises and eternal life.
